Philadelphia woman gets prison time for fraud

COURTHOUSE — A Philadelphia woman was sentenced to nine to 23 months on Tuesday after pleading guilty to access device fraud from a 2012 incident in Lower Merion.

Samiya Blakley, 31, of the 5600 block of Haverford Avenue, will also have to pay a fine of $100 and serve three years of probation when she is released from prison. She will begin serving her prison sentence on May 14 at 6 p.m.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Dec. 7, 2012 at 12:30 p.m. the victim went into the Delancey Street Bagels restaurant on the first block of East Wynnewood Road in the Wynnewood section of Lower Merion. Before sitting down, the victim hung her coat and her purse on the back of the chair. The affidavit of probable cause states that she stayed at the restaurant for about a half-hour before leaving and going home.

When the victim came home she received several phone calls from her bank about recent activity on her credit card. The victim checked to see her purse and found that her debit card and three credit cards were missing from her purse. All of the credit cards were used at the King of Prussia Mall for purchases made at Nordstorm’s, Footlocker, For Cell, Express, The Apple Store, Armani Exchange and Macy’s. Two women, shown making the purchases in security footage, racked up a charge of $7,400 on the credit cards.

Advertisement

On Dec. 10, 2012, several of the items purchased were returned for a cash refund at a Nordstrom’s store in New Jersey. Blakley identified herself and gave a photo license to the cashier. Police had a photo of Blakley from previous encounters and determined she was one of the women who stole the credit cards and made fraudulent purchases.